The flowers look remarkably like bees, and are set in the middle of three radiating lilac-coloured sepals which can easily be mistaken for petals. The actual petals are two in number, green shorter and narrow. Short, narrow oval leaves sprout just below each flowering stem.

The 'bee' has warm brown and fluorescent green markings on its three lobes, the side lobes bearing longer hairs. A mainly green 'hood' towers over the 'bee'. The upper petal of this specimen is folded back somewhat.

The hood partly obscures two yellow pollen-loaded anthers on drooping thin yellow stalks; hovering above the bee ready to transfer the pollen onto any visiting (real) bee. Except that the Bee Orchid is the one and only orchid of the Orchis Genus which is routinely also self-pollinated. The wind catches the dangling anthers transferring pollen to the stigma.

A BEE ORCHID VARIETYOphrys apifera var. chlorantha

Variety chlorantha totally lacks any anthocyanin colouring and thus not only are the petals white but the colour of the body reflects the chlorophyll within it, a greeny-yellow. A closer scrutiny reveals there are residual marks on the body where the differing anthocyanins would play if they were present.

This orchid, a member of the Bee Orchid or Ophrys species, is thought to be a hybrid between Late Spider Orchid (Ophrys Holoserica) and Woodcock Orchid (Ophrys Scolopax) and seems to have no presence in the UK.

Hybridises with :

Late Spider-Orchid to produce Ophrys × albertiana (Ophrys apifera × fuciflora) which in the decade of the 2000's was found in only one hectad in the UK (in Somerset) where previously it was found in three hectads.

Distinguishing Feature : the three pink sepals fanning out in a triangular shape surrounding a warm-brown flower that looks like a bee. There are also two shorter green sepals sticking out above the bee like fat antennae.

The shape of a Bee Orchid attracts male bees who attempt to mate with the 'bee', who then carry away pollen to pollinate the next bee orchid. The Bee Orchid cheats; it provides no nectar for the bee.

There are eight or more differing varieties of Bee Orchid in the UK, some not typically shaped (peloric).

Variants of Bee Orchid :

Ophrys apifera var. bicolor Found in Warwickshire, Essex & Dorset.

Ophrys apifera var. belgarum Found in Hampshire and now widely known in an area including Essex, Somerset & Northamptonshire.

Ophrys apifera var. friburgensisWas in Wiltshire in 1984, now in Somerset.

Two peloric forms are known: both without the 'bee' at all. One with the hood and polinia prominently displayed whilst the other has six pink nearly equi-sized petals/sepals arranged radially, but with slight zygomorphic asymmetry - a condition caused by homeosis.